Ben Affleck Reveals Why He Quit Playing Batman

Ben Affleck officially confirmed he was done playing Batman on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, and revealed for the first time his reasons why. He also smelled Matt Damon’s thong, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Affleck told Kimmel:

I tried to direct a version of it, and worked with a really good screenwriter but just kind of couldn’t come up — couldn’t crack it. And so I thought it was time to let someone else take a shot at it. They’ve got some really good people.

The really good people in this case is director Matt Reeves and his team, who are currently working on a movie tentatively titled The Batman that will supposedly focus on a younger Batman and be more of a mystery deteective movie. Affleck was cast to play an older Batman, so he really was not right for Reeves’ vision.

It is a very anticlimactic end to the brief reign of the Batfleck, who made just two features (along with a handful of cameos) as the Dark Knight. He never even got a solo film as the character, and he always seemed sort of out of place hanging out with Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot and the rest of the DC Extended Universe cast.

So Affleck is officially retired as Batman. His cape and cowl shall hang from the rafters of Jimmy Kimmel Live! for eternity. And he has Matt Damon’s Behind the Candelabra thong as a souvenir to enjoy forever. All in all, I’d say that’s a solid deal.